Claude Max 20x is now Ultra, and verified Ultra accounts lose the 5-hour limit

Anthropic renamed its two Max tiers on 30 October. Max 5x is now just Max at $100 a month, and Max 20x is now Ultra at $200. Prices do not change and subscribers are moved over automatically. The part that changes how people work is on Ultra: verified accounts no longer have the 5-hour session limit, “starting today with most existing subscribers.”

What Ultra now includes

Per the Ultra help article and the pricing page:

• Usage: 10x Pro usage measured per week, with no 5-hour window once the account is verified. There is still a weekly limit across all models, plus a separate weekly limit for Fable, which can use up to 50% of weekly limits on Max and Ultra.
• API credits: $200 a month on Ultra, against $100 on Max.
• Billing: Ultra is monthly only.
• Max keeps 5x Pro usage, counted both every 5 hours and every week.

Anthropic says “weekly limits remain unchanged.” The 20x in the old name was framed around per-session usage, so do not read the new 10x weekly figure as a cut. Anthropic publishes no token counts that would let anyone check either way.

Verification

Verification is automatic and based on account and payment history, which Anthropic says helps it fight fraud and abuse. Newer accounts keep a temporary 5-hour limit until they qualify and get an email when it lifts. To check, open Settings > Usage: if there is no Current session bar, the account is verified. Phone verification is a separate step from this.

Why this matters

For heavy Claude Code users the 5-hour reset was the limit that broke up a working day, so removing it on the $200 tier changes how a long agent session can be planned, while the weekly ceiling still applies. It lands one day after OpenAI cancelled its Pro 200 cut and doubled other Pro allowances and added up to $500 a month in API credits, so both $200 coding plans now come with matching API credit. Anyone choosing between them should compare weekly limits and credits, not plan names.